Irondale police on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, arrested three men suspected in crimes in Irondale and Vestavia Hills.

IRONDALE, Alabama - Police arrested a trio of suspects they say robbed three men in Irondale just an hour after they stormed a Liberty Park home in Vestavia Hills.

Maricuz Harper, Julius Hunter and Quintarious Mitchell, all 20 and of Birmingham, are charged with three counts of robbery and are in jail.

Irondale police Det. Michael Mangina said a patrol officer stopped them Friday night after noticing their burgundy Dodge Minivan matched the lookout bulletins broadcast over police radios from Vestavia Hills and Irondale police. The men were taken into custody on Montclair Road in Birmingham.

Mangina gave this account of the night's events: About 8 p.m. the three men committed a home invasion in Liberty Park. They went into a home where a woman there was home alone. She screamed, and they fled. She was able to get a description of their getaway van.

At 9:06 p.m. the men robbed three men who had just gotten out of their car at a home in the 1200 block of Mill Lane near Grants Mill Road. The victims were standing outside of the car when the suspects, armed with a gun, robbed them of cash, their cell phones and a debit card.

About 25 minutes later, an Irondale patrol officer spotted the van on Scenic View Drive, called for backup and followed the vehicle until he could get it stopped.

Inside the van police found a revolver under the front seat. When the three were booked into the Irondale City Jail, police recovered some of the stolen cash, a stolen debit card and one of the stolen cell phones from the Irondale victims.

The three men confessed to the crimes in Irondale and Vestavia Hills, Mangina said. "Since a gun was involved, this could have been really bad for all the victims,'' he said.

In the Vestavia Hills case, Mangina said, the homeowner's door was unlocked, something the suspects said they took advantange of. Mangina said people must lock their doors. ""They said they were just driving around looking for opportunity, and it arose,'' he said.

Mangina said he expects Vestavia Hills police to file their own charges early next week. All three suspects are expected to be transferred to the Jefferson County Jail this afternoon.

Harper's bond is set at $180,000. Bonds for Mitchell and Hunter are set at $90,000 each.

"Our patrol officers did a great job,'' Mangina said. "In an hour and a half, we took three bad guys off the streets for crimes in two cities. That's good work."